Politics on the left. The importance of ‘ad hoc local initiatives’
Owen Jones latest Guardian article rightly condemns Labour’s benefit cuts. Its not a new thing for a Labour Government, Blair also did it, but the scale is wider.
He looks at the prospects for the left beyond Labour. Several things might be said.
While Starmer’s Labour is on the right-wing of social democracy the fundamental relationship that formed Labour in 1900 between trade union leaders & Parliamentary presence remains. While capitalism continues there will be space for a party trying to reform it. That might not be Labour but the impulse to try reform (not Reform) remains.
In terms of building an alternative Jones finds the Greens lacking. My view is that just as Labour is a Party with some socialists in it, so the Greens are a party with some of leftish views in it. Not rooted in the labour movement however its subject to swings of perspective.
Jones also wants ‘leadership’ which reminds me (and probably very few others of the Socialist Labour League). That said I’m in favour of leadership it’s a question of where it comes from.
I don’t agree with Jones rather dismissive approach to ‘ad hoc local initiatives’. They are one of the more likely routes into a new formation of the left. As E P Thompson noted in Homage to Tom Maguire, the Independent Labour Party was not founded in London Head Offices but ‘in those shadowy parts known as the Provinces’
Some continue supporting Labour in lieu of an alternative: according to YouGov, more Labour voters than not now disapprove of the government, an astonishing statistic given the party’s support has plummeted to less than a quarter of the electorate. Some stop voting. Some may opt for the Greens, but its four MPs have failed to offer any cut-through leadership, despite uniquely fertile circumstances. Others defect to independent candidates, but their success is based on ad hoc local initiatives. And, bleakly, others may opt for Reform UK, which fills the vacuum as the ultimate protest vote, even though the party backs cutting benefits for disabled people, increasing privatisation of the NHS and slashing taxes for the rich.
Some responses appear in the Guardian on 7th April. Its a debate but hopefully not one that starts from the idea of organising a new leftish formulation focused from above on Parliamentary politics. They are important but building from below well beyond the confines of London SW1 must be the start, as it was for the Independent Labour Party over 130 years ago now
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